Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive | How To Academy

Thu, 9 November 2023

6:30 pm - 7:30 pm GMT

Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive

Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson In Conversation With Hannah MacInnes

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Drawing on a lifetime’s research, the world’s most influential organisational psychologist reveals how failures can lead us to happier, more successful professional and personal lives.

We used to think of failure as a problem, to be avoided at all costs. Now, we’re often told that failure is desirable – that we must ‘fail fast, fail often’. The trouble is, neither approach distinguishes the good failures from the bad. As a result, we miss the opportunity to fail well.

Now Harvard’s Amy Edmondson joins How To Academy to ask a simply, provocative question: What if it is only by learning to fail that we can hope to truly succeed?

She will reveal how we get failure wrong, and how to get it right. She will introduce us to the three archetypes of failure – simple, complex and intelligent – and explain how to harness the revolutionary potential of the good ones (and eliminate the bad).

Drawing on illuminating studies, from the history of open-heart surgery to the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, she will share the techniques needed to overcome our confirmation bias and practise persistence, reflection and accountability.

Whether you are a parent or leader, afraid of failure or at peace with the pursuit of perfection, this is an unmissable livestream event.

Praise for the work of Amy Edmondson:

“No skill in life is more important than learning from failure – and no one on earth knows more about it than Amy Edmondson. Drawing on her eye-opening evidence and rich practical experience, she offers a wealth of insight on how to take intelligent risks and bounce forward after setbacks. If everyone internalised the ideas in this important book, we would all be safer, smarter, and more successful.” – Adam Grant, author of Think Again

“Amy Edmondson, one of our finest business minds, offers a bold new perspective on human fallibility. With a graceful mix of scientific research and practical advice, she shows how to transform failure from an obstacle to a steppingstone – from a weight that holds us back to a wind that propels us forward. Right Kind of Wrong is guidebook for our times.” – Daniel Pink, author of Drive

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Amy Edmondson

Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School

Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. Renowned for her world-leading research into the concept of psychological safety, Edmondson has been named by Thinkers50 as the most influential management thinker in the world. Her work has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Psychology Today and Harvard Business Review, and been drawn upon by companies including Google, Pixar and Microsoft.

Hannah MacInnes

Journalist and Broadcaster

Hannah MacInnes is a broadcaster and journalist. Alongside hosting How To Academy’s live programmes and podcast, she presents a cultural show on Times Radio and interviews on-stage at a number of other major literary events. She is the host of The Klosters Forum Podcast series and has written for the Radio Times, the Evening Standard and TLS. Before going freelance she worked for 8 years at BBC Newsnight, as Planning Editor and as a Producer / Filmmaker.